Max Verstappen explains how he can stun Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and win F1 title

Max Verstappen is tempering expectations regarding a late charge for the Drivers' Championship title, despite securing back-to-back wins in Monza and Baku. The Dutchman, who won each of the last four F1 crowns, is now only 69 points behind Oscar Piastri at the top of the standings with seven races remaining.

Verstappen enjoyed a flawless weekend in Azerbaijan, scoring pole position and leading every lap on the way to his sixth career Grand Slam. Critically for the 27-year-old, though, Piastri endured a disastrous outing. After crashing during the final part of qualifying on Sunday, he jumped the start of the Grand Prix, and then crashed at Turn Five after locking up in the dirty air of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.

Lando Norris failed to capitalise, taking just six points out of his team-mate's advantage. Verstappen was the main mover, closing to within 69 points of the top spot. With seven rounds of the 2025 calendar remaining, Red Bull's marquee driver will need to out-score Piastri by an average of 10 points per race.

"Seven races to go and it is still 69 points... it's a lot," Verstappen told Sky Sports F1 when asked if the fight was still on. "Basically everything needs to go perfect from my side, and then a bit of luck from their side, I need as well, so it is still very tough."

Even before the race in Azerbaijan, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella made it clear that he views Verstappen as a legitimate threat to Norris and Piastri's dreams of becoming world champion. "Of course, of course," he declared. "We don't have to forget that first of all, he's Max Verstappen - world champion for the last four years - in a fast car.

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"Like I said before, there are races where McLaren may not enjoy any advantage from a competitiveness point of view. And Lando and Oscar are always there, so they won't necessarily be maximising the points available. Sometimes it will be a little bit more points for Lando and a little bit more for Oscar, so they may take some points away from each other.

"We are very aware of this aspect, but we let them race because they both deserve to pursue their aspirations. Therefore, yes, Verstappen and Red Bull are in contention for the Drivers' Championship."

Helmut Marko, however, is less optimistic, although the Austrian accepted he will have to start believing if Red Bull are strong in Singapore. "What Andrea said is very optimistic, but I hope he's right," he said. "The gap is still big, and it's not often that a McLaren doesn't finish. But we'll see. If we're competitive in Singapore in two weeks, maybe we can start dreaming."